In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while « les refusés » were organizing away from the Salon, there was rising interest in artists considered self-taught those learning outside the academies and without masters. But the art of autodidacts, also called the « art of the insane », « art brut », « primitive » or « naive » art, defies categories and definitions as much as it arouses debate. What modernist preoccupations, from childlike wonder to the primitive, does it echo ?

Focusing in particular on two 19th-century autodidacts, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) and Niko Pirosmani (1862-1918), and exploring the issues this notion raises today, at this symposium art historians, critics, curators, writers, artists and teachers offered their analysis of self-education from multiple perspectives.

The complex figure of the autodidact can enlighten us on our value systems, our approaches to teaching and how recognition is given in a world where different conceptions of culture coexist.

This symposium, organized in September 2019, was the third in a series of conferences conceived by the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Aries. The first, « Van Gogh - Duchamp : Oil & Water ? », was held in January 2015 and the second, « Van Gogh Pre-Pop », in March 2017.